Respirators find utility in a variety of manufacturing, custodial, sporting, and household applications. In these types of applications, respirators filter out dust and other particulate aerosols to protect the respiratory system of the user from harmful or irritating contaminates. Likewise, respirators have found utility in the healthcare industry. In this regard, respirators are helpful in that they may be configured to filter exhaled air from the wearer to minimize the amount of bacteria or other contaminants released from the user into the environment. Such a limitation of bacteria contaminants is important in that hospital patients typically require a sterile environment in order to avoid infections, and hospital patients often have compromised immune systems making them susceptible to infection. Additionally, respirators may also filter inhaled air to protect the user from contaminants that may be found in a hospital setting, as hospital patients commonly carry airborne bacterial pathogens.
It is therefore the case that in the health care field, specifically in operating rooms, health care providers often use respirators to help protect themselves from acquiring harmful diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis along with other contagious diseases that may be present in the patients that are being treated.
Some respirators are configured to cover the entire face of a user while other respirators are designed to cover only the nose and mouth of the user. Additionally, respirators have been designed to cover various parts of a user's face. For instance, certain respirators are configured for covering the nose, eyes, and mouth of a user. The front panel section of the respirator that covers the nose and mouth typically is composed of a material that prevents the passage of germs and other contaminants there through but allows for the passage of air so that the user may breathe.
Respirators have also been designed to provide a tight seal to the user's face. Such sealing arrangements are important for the overall effectiveness of the respirator by preventing dust, particulates, airborne microbes or other contaminants from bypassing the filtering media of the respirator.
Attached to the respirator is a securing device that is used for attaching the front panel securely to the head of the user. For instance, rubber or elastic straps are commonly utilized in respirators used in industrial settings. Additionally, manual tie straps might be employed, especially for health-care respirators. The straps fasten the respirator to the user. For this purpose, the respirator is placed on the face of the user and the tie straps are extended around the head of the user.
Currently, disposable respirators, especially those used for industrial or related purposes, typically have a main body made of a thin molded structure of layers of materials configured to provide a tent-like shape covering the mouth and nose of the user. Alternatively, the materials used in the disposable respirator may be predominantly flat, but incorporate folds or pleats which can be expanded prior to use to provide a tent-like shape to cover the mouth and nose of the user. In order to protect the user, such respirators utilize a filter material through which all of the user's inhaled air is to pass through. As the user inhales, the user creates a negative pressure in the breathing chamber which may cause the body of the respirator to collapse against the mouth of the user. Such a collapse is uncomfortable to the user and may discourage regular use of such respirators.
Others have tried to address the issue of collapse through various solutions. Some respirators utilize thicker materials, stiffer materials, or add additional layers to help add rigidity to the respirator. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,347 and 6,715,489 and UK Patent Application 2103491. However, while more rigid materials help resist collapse, they also work against the need for wearer comfort and the need for the respirator to conform to the individualized shape of the user's face. Other solutions comprise various origami-type folds, pleats, and other alternate geometric configurations that provide a stronger architecture to the respirator. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,893; 6,474,336; 6,923,182; and 7,036,507. Such complex geometry requires specialized, and often more complicated, manufacturing processes and/or equipment. Additionally, such complex structures are often dependent on the user properly donning the respirator without disturbing the specific geometry of the respirator.